Trinity Christian Takes Advantage Of Lady Warrior Defensive Meltdown

In the very near future the LaGrange Academy errors will likely turn into outs.

At the same time the frowns will turn into smiles. Soon after that, according to the Lady Warrior softball game plan, the LaGrange Academy defeats will be transformed into wins.

That’s the way it is supposed to happen for the Lady Warriors in the coming weeks and games. But on Thursday night, LaGrange Academy found a way to lose a winnable game, via an 8-3 loss to the Trinity Christian Lady Lions from Sharpsburg.

The home girls, LaGrange Academy, lost ugly with five errors.

“We’re not good enough to give a team five, six or seven outs (in an inning). We’re immature. We have to keep working. We’re not there yet,” said Lady Warriors head coach Charles Parker.

As for the LaGrange Academy pitching, Parker gave a thumbs up.

“We didn’t walk people, and our pitchers did an outstanding job. We are throwing strikes. Softball is all about pitching (and defense),” said Parker, who has compiled more than 400 wins with the Lady Warriors in the past 29 softball seasons.

Parker did appreciate the effort and the strikes from LaGrange Academy hurlers Amber Corley, the eighth grader, and Reagan Terry, the junior. Corley went four innings with two strikeouts, two walks, four runs and six hits.

Terry worked the final three innings from the pitching circle. Terry served up four runs on three hits. Both Terry and Corley were backed up by a shaky Lady Warrior defense, which threw the ball around like the heavy-handed team that it currently is. The Lady Warriors made one error in the second inning, another error in the third and three more in the top of the sixth inning.

Trinity Christian also got an RBI double from Carson in the sixth inning. The Lady Lions took a 7-3 lead in the top of the sixth.

“We are feisty. We put the bat on the ball. We kept coming back (in the game), and our base running was good,” said coach Jenny King of Trinity Christian, which is 2-1 on the season.

The Lady Lions stole four bases in the game. Trinity Christian’s aggressive base running caused some of the defensive woes for the Lady Warriors. Sophomore Destini De La Cruz swiped second base in the top of the second inning. Carson stole another base for the Lady Lions in the fourth inning. Boyd stole a base in the sixth inning as well. Freshman Emily Clanton swiped a base, too, for Trinity Christian in the seventh inning.

“We’ve got some speed. If we get on base we can score some runs,” said Lady Lions assistant coach Lee Johnson.

Carson, the Trinity Chrisitan relief pitcher, earned the win with 6 1/3 innings of work with 10 strikeouts, one hit and one run. Carson, a right-hander, did not walk any LaGrange Academy batters.

The only Lady Warrior hit off Carson was a Laney Anderson double to left field in the fourth inning. Anderson, however, did have another base hit in the game, a two-RBI single off Trinity Christian starting pitcher and senior Heather Long in the bottom of the first inning.

LaGrange Academy’s other hit in the game was a Reagan Terry single in the bottom of the first inning. Terry also stole second base in the inning. The Lady Warriors ended up with three hits in the softball game.

Parker, the LaGrange Academy coach, was expecting a few more line drives.